A Hero's Heart
by Airship Canon
Summary: Two HalfElven brothers get caught up in the quest to regenerate the world while searching for revenge for their family's death. A little Colloyd is thrown in.Some minor Spoilers. Please R&R! Yes, it is done.
1. Chapters 1 through 3

**A Hero's Heart**

**By Airship Canon**

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**Disclaimer**: I don't own ToS... blah... blah... blah I do how ever own Reiko Indignir. He's a character I created. He's mine. And any and all characters spoken of in this Fanfic have no connection to real people at all.

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**Reiko Indignir

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**

Aerifdall. The hidden half-elven village. The people here have been discriminated against past the breaking point. Now their leaders were plotting to revolt. They want to get equal rights for the half-elves in Tethe'alla. They were going to take Tethe'alla by storm, starting the revolution in the forests near Ozette, and move on to Sybak, and finally take the movement on to Meltokio, where they would overthrow the king and take out the cruel, unjust monster that is the Pope of Tethe'alla. But the Pope was tipped off. Two nights before the revolution was to begin, the Pope's personal army, the Papal Knights arrived at the village gates. Their orders were to wipe out the half-elves down to the last woman and child.

"Ready, steady… aim carefully… fire the arrows!" ordered the Commander Knight, Kyle Pittman III. The volley of flaming arrows was launched into the village, setting it ablaze. As the town was set on fire, soldiers marched into the town capturing any one that the could… the men were executed on spot by shooting them with the burning arrows. The women and children were marched off to Meltokio to be fed to the beasts.

In the chaos, a half-elf known by the name of Emily was helping some of the children escape the massacre. Young Reiko Indignir barely could walk when this was taking place, his parents where both captured by the Papal Knights, but thanks to Emily's altruistic sacrifice he escaped and was taken to the flying city of Exire. Shortly after helping Reiko escape the massacre, Emily herself was captured by Pittman's forces.

That was 24 years ago. Now Reiko is one of the most wanted criminals in all of Tethe'alla. His crimes: interfering with justice, harboring criminals, and letting them escape, blasphemy against the Pope, treason, and caste deception. To the racist leaders of the Church, and many people of Tethe'alla, he is a monster who murders good Papal Knights, and sets the evil half-elves free. On the other hand, to the half-elves, he is a valiant hero that saves them from the injustice displayed against them by the Pope and his servants.

Reiko awoke to that nightmare again. He had this nightmare many times. The ghost of the past haunted him continuously, he was haunted by the memory of the family he lost because of Pittman. He looked around. It was dark, there was a charge in the air. Lightning illuminated the area around him. He was in the Temple of Lightning, for that was his place of training, the place where he could hone his lighting magic skills, without constantly being on the run from the Papal Knights and the soldiers or bounty hunters of Tethe'alla. "Westerly, it is time to go buddy…" he said to the dragon next to him. It roared in comply. Reiko and Westerly walked out of the temple. The sun was just beginning to rise, and the Tower of Salvation loomed in the distance, looking quite majestic as the golden light of the sun glinted off of it. "Westerly, we're going to Flanoir today. We have to get going…" Reiko said, as he mounted the Dragon, ready to take flight.

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**Escaping the Base!

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**

"Come on, Colette! Follow us, we'll protect you!" Lloyd cried out to Colette, but it was to no avail. The impossibly violent, lifeless being, that was once the friendly and happy Colette, continued to follow at the same slow rate, not even acknowledging Lloyd's cries. Before the events that had taken place at the Tower of Salvation Colette had loved Lloyd, but now, she won't even acknowledge his existence.

"There he is! Get him!" cried one of the Renegade foot soldiers. Three of them ran after Lloyd, but caught up to Colette first.

"DO NOT TOUCH THE ANGEL!" shouted another soldier. But it was too late. One of the first three's unsheathed sword cut Colette's hand. Colette turned around, her Chakrams in hand. "Fools! Do you realize what you've just done! You've killed us all!" the soldier cried. He tried to run but Colette threw her weapon, hitting him in the back of the neck, instantly killing him. She then raised her right hand, and moved it so that it created a cross in the air. Suddenly it began to rain high-energy beams of light, and in an instant, all three of the remaining Renegades were dead.

Lloyd looked back and saw the carnage that Colette had caused. He hardly could believe his eyes. The friendly girl he once knew and loved was gone, but he hoped that she wouldn't be gone forever. He badly wanted her back, the girl whom he loved. The girl Cruxis had taken from him, so unjustly. But at that moment he had to get out of the base, and as Sheena had said, they could take the Rheairds and make for the flourishing world of Tethe'alla. There, Lloyd hoped, he would find the method to save Colette from what Cruxis had turned her into. Lloyd and his friends boarded the Rheairds and took off. They swooped around and began their trip through the dimensional boundary that separated the two worlds of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla.

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**Joining In!

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**

Reiko was flying towards Flanoir when suddenly there was a bright light over a nearby mountaintop. From that light four objects shot out of that light at an incredible speed. Reiko looked at the objects with intense curiosity, trying to figure out what they were. Aboard one, he saw a young maiden, of only about 16, she had long golden blonde hair, and a beautiful face, but she also had eerie red eyes, and wings. Wings. Upon seeing this girl, Reiko thought that the objects were mystic chariots that the angels of Cruxis used to traverse the skies. When one of the objects began to jerk and fall, Reiko and Westerly turned around and followed it. He watched as the four objects crashed atop the Fooji Mountains, just southwest of Meltokio. He watched the people who he thought were angels leave the mountains and head for Meltokio. They weren't angels at all. "Oh, that just some of the Renegade's magitechnology. But that girl…" Reiko said. He then flew off to Sybak, the university town. A few hours later, he heard some news that startled him.

"Two half-elves were just arrested for treason, and are to be publicly executed at the Meltokio Coliseum. They are being lead across the Grand Tethe'alla right this moment."

"Great…" Reiko thought to himself, as he left the city, and got on Westerly's back and started flying towards the end of the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge. On the flight to the end of the bridge, he unsheathed his Zweihander, Glam. Along the way, he saw the same people that he saw at the Fooji mountains, chasing after the Papal Knights. The came to the end, and the knights tried to cut them off by raising the drawbridge, but they did not stop, they tried to jump. But they failed, only that angel girl made the jump. But right before they were going to hit the water, there was a surge and they were launched over the drawbridge, and made a safe landing. At that time, Reiko had already landed, and stopped the advance of the Papal Knights.

"Let those two half-elves go!" Reiko demanded.

"Move out of the way! Don't interfere with justice!" they replied.

"Let our friends go!" Lloyd demanded, coming up from behind. He had unsheathed his two swords, and was ready to fight the Papal Knights to rescue his friends, the two half-elves who were arrested; Genis and Raine.

"Looks like you're trapped, Mr. Papal Knight. If you let the half-elves go right now, I'll let you live… I don't know about the person with the twin swords behind you, but I, Reiko Indignir will let you live," Reiko arrogantly said to the Papal Knights holding Genis and Raine under arrest.

"Fool. Do you think we are going to let them, or you, leave? You know the law, all half-elves who are guilty of any crime are executed, no matter the circumstances, and treason is a high crime indeed." the leader of the group of Papal Knights replied.

"How can they be guilty of treason? King Tethe'alla XVII controls all of the lands of this world! What, were they planning to somehow go to Sylvarant and aid in the World Regeneration Ritual there and bring death and destruction to this land?" Reiko sarcastically asked them.

"That's exactly what they were doing."

"Yeah. Riiight. So are you going to let them go or not?"

"Have you even listened to us?"

"I didn't think so." After Reiko had finished speaking, he swung his massive sword, bashing the leader of the group of Papal Knights into the ground. "STAY DOWN! THUNDER ARROW!" The leader of the knights tried to stand up, but as he did, he was hit with many blasts of lightning. He was killed by the electricity.

Reiko then drove his sword into the dead body of the fallen Papal Knight. He used his sword a pole vault, and while in the air, he threw a dagger. "RAIDEN!" he yelled out, as the dagger plunged into the chest of another Papal Knight. The knight clutched his chest, and his vile blood stained his green armor, then lightning struck the knight, and he died in an instant.

"I'm a noble knight of the Pope's Army! I'm not going to be defeated!" shouted the last remaining Papal Knight , the one who Lloyd was fighting.

"TETHE SEAL LIGHTING!" Reiko shouted. Lloyd then found himself empowered, as lightning energy began to flow through him. As Lloyd continued to slash away at the knight, he was inflicting lighting damage.

"Use a thrust attack! You'll do more damage!" Reiko called to Lloyd.

"Uh… ok… SONIC THRUST!" Lloyd shouted. Lloyd thrust his swords forward and stabbed the knight, but now, lightning struck the knight hard. "Once more!" Reiko called. As Lloyd began to use his new Lightning Thrust technique, Reiko once again used his Raiden attack. The final knight was dead. Genis and Raine were freed.

After talking about it for a few moments it was decided that Genis and Raine could rejoin Lloyd's group, even despite the fact that they were half-elves. Then Reiko asked, "Lloyd, would it be all right if I could join your group? Any friend of the half-elves is a friend of mine."

"Uh… sure… um what's your name again?"

"I'm Reiko Indignir. I'm a half-elf like Genis and Raine, but it seems as if you and most of the rest of your group don't discriminate against the half-elves."

"That's right. We won't treat half-elves any different from anyone else."

Reiko looked around, and then he noticed Colette. It was that same angelic maiden that he had seen near Flanoir. But something was wrong with her, and even Reiko could notice it.

"Uh… that girl with the wings and red eyes…"

"Colette?"

"Umm… Yeah, is something wrong with her? I mean she doesn't show any emotion, she doesn't speak, and she doesn't react when spoken to… That can't be normal, is it?"

"No…" tears came to Lloyd's eyes, as he thought of Colette, the way she used to be, not this violent zombie that Cruxis had turned her into. " She used to be, nice; I'd say the nicest, and happiest person on all of Sylvarant, but because she's the chosen, Cruxis tried to kill her! They took her soul, and turned her into this…"

"She's the chosen of Sylvarant?"

"Yes she is. But completing the World Regeneration Ritual would mean her death… and I'm not about going to let that happen."

"So exactly what happened?"

"She was going on the ritual of releasing the seals… but with each one, she lost part of what made her human, and…"

"Losing her humanity… that's not right…"

"Then, when we were going to go release the Final Seal, it became clear that she would die upon the completion of the ritual, so I fought against the Angels to save her. But… it was too late, Cruxis had already transformed her into this, by stealing her soul… she was gone…" Lloyd fell into tears as he remembered everything that had happened at the Tower of Salvation five days ago.

"Man… that's horrible… it's so sad…"

"Well, what about you? Why did you go through the trouble to save Genis and Raine?" "I'm one of the 11 survivors of the Aerifdall Massacre. My entire family, most of my friends and many others were murdered by the Pope's Knights. Only 11 out of 237 people lived… most of those killed where women and children. I take it as a responsibility to save half-elves that are oppressed by that racist Pope and his marauding armies!"

"Well shouldn't we go pick up the Rheairds?" Zelos interrupted.

"Pick up? How do you plan on moving those things?" Lloyd inquired.

"He most likely has a Wing Pack. It's a product of magitechnology, most Tethe'alleans have one. It is capable of holding large objects, in a light-weight, small size container," Reiko answered.

"Aww man! You spoiled the surprise!" Zelos complained.

"Let's get going! To the Fooji Mountains!"

"I can't believe I'm going to have to climb that mountain again…" Lloyd groaned.

"Oh come on! It's for your Colette!" Reiko said.


	2. She's Alive again Chapter 4

**She's Alive Again! Colette's Return!

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Lloyd, his friends, and Reiko soon came to the summit of the Fooji mountains. When they arrived, a strange, familiar feeling came over Lloyd. It was quite similar to the feeling that he had felt the night before Iselia was devastated, the night when he was talking with Colette on the balcony. That same comforting feeling that he had then, when Colette was with him. Lloyd looked over at Colette. "You'll be back to normal soon… I promise," he quietly whispered. She didn't respond. "Hey Zelos, how are going to move these things?" He asked, referring to Rheairds.

"Oh, I'll show you, come over here for a sec," Zelos said, motioning for the group to follow him.

Then something caught Reiko's eye. There was a round orange disc, it was seemingly out of place on the top of the Fooji mountains. "Wait, no! It's a trap!" He yelled, but before anyone could react, the trap sprung, and everyone except Colette was trapped inside a force field.

"You've walked right into my trap, fools!" a voice called. It was Lord Yuan, the leader of the Renegades. Everyone turned to face Zelos, who had led them right into Yuan's trap.

"He just called you a fool." Lloyd said to Zelos.

"Zelos… is clumsy." Presea said, in a monotone.

Zelos hung his head, and sarcastically said, "Gah… I'm so sad now."

Yuan looked over at his two loyal soldiers. "You, retrieve the Rheairds."

"Yes sir." One of them replied.

"This time, you're mine Lloyd!" Yuan said.

"… Damn!" Lloyd shouted. He was trapped, there was no way out of the force field. Suddenly, a woman, wearing red and dark blue clothing, with an intricate golden ring that surrounded her appeared.

"Oh? Lord Yuan, what brings you to this place?" she said.

"I think I've seen that lady somewhere before…" Genis said to the group.

"I should ask you the same, Pronyma! The role of you Desians is to wreak havoc upon the declining world." Replied Yuan.

"I have come on Lord Yggdrasill's orders to retrieve Colette. Please turn her over to me." Pronyma told Yuan.

"Fine. But in exchange for handing over the Chosen, I'm taking custody of Lloyd. I trust you have no objections."

"I have received no orders in regards to him so. Please do as you wish my lord."

As Pronyma floated over to Colette, to take her to Derris-Kharlan, Lloyd fell to his knees. He had been able to stop her from being taken to become Martel, but now, he had no way to save her. "Colette… don't go!" he desperately cried out, in an attempt to spark something…

"Hahahahaha! A futile effort. Your words cannot reach a chosen who has lost her soul." Pronyma laughed at Lloyd's vain attempt to stop Colette from being taken away. She then looked down, towards Colette's neck. "What is this! Why is there such a crude key crest upon the Cruxis Crystal? … How pathetic. I shall remove this ugly thing at once!" She said, but as she reached down to remove the Crystal, something quite remarkable happened.

"N…no!" Colette's unwillingness to part with the necklace that Lloyd had made her, empowered the Key Crest that was on the necklace. "This is a birthday present that Lloyd gave me!"

"Colette… spoke!" Genis shouted.

At that same time Reiko also shouted, "She… spoke, _plus her eyes changed from red to blue_."

"Colette! Are you back to normal!" Lloyd shouted, forgetting about the force field, Yuan, and Pronyma. He was simply ecstatic with the fact that Colette was herself again.

Colette turned around, and faced Lloyd. She saw the force field. "What? Why is everyone inside that thing"

"Impossible." Yuan said, stunned by the fact that Colette had regained her heart. "There's no way a pitiful Key Crest like that could restrain the Cruxis Crystal."

"Wow… not bad Lloyd." Zelos said, regarding Colette's return.

"Heh… success." Reiko added.

"How could this happen! Still, in the end, it is a worthless bauble. It shan't last long. Now come with me!" Pronyma demanded, reaching out to seize Colette, and to take her away to Derris-Kharlan where she'd meet her demise. Colette, not wanting to die, hit Pronyma with her Chakrams, knocking Pronyma back.

She shouted, "Let me go!" quite loud. And as she yelled, she stumbled backwards, tripping over the force field generator, breaking it. She didn't know what the device was. "Oh no. I broke it." She said.

At that time, Pronyma had recovered, and was going to take Colette away, but Reiko threw one of his Raiden daggers at her, striking her hand. Lightning hit her. "I do believe that Colette didn't want you to take her away!" He shouted.

Lloyd ran over to Colette, and hugged her, something he wasn't able to do when she didn't have her soul.

"Lloyd, thank you for the present! I was so happy… I was really happy, there just wasn't anything I could do at the time." Colette said.

"It's okay! Don't worry about it." Lloyd told her, just glad that she was back.

Pronyma had gotten up, and was on the attack again. "BEHIND YOU!" both Reiko and Raine shouted.

"You impudent! Prepare to die!" Pronyma yelled, readying for a fight. "You'll pay for making a fool of me!"

Lloyd moved to defend Colette from Pronyma. He quickly attacked Pronyma.

"Leonazium!" Pronyma shouted, knocking Lloyd back. She then began to cast a darkness spell.

Lloyd continued his offense, now aided by Colette, Zelos, Sheena, and Reiko.

"Burn! Eruption!" Genis shouted, and the ground broke open, and molten lava blasted out, scalding Pronyma.

"Ray!" Raine cried, and many beams of light slammed into Pronyma, inflicting massive damage.

But Pronyma's spell wasn't stopped. "Boom!" It began to rain an eerie, red, liquid.

"Armor eating acid!" Reiko shrieked. That liquid was disintegrating his metal armor.

"Agarazium!" Pronyma shouted, and wraithlike rings of light knocked Lloyd into the air.

"Explosive Surge!" Reiko yelled, driving his sword into the ground, knocking lightning-charged chunks of rock into the air, shelling Pronyma.

"Para Ball!" Colette yelled, throwing these special spiked balls at Pronyma, causing lightning to strike her.

"You can use Para Ball as well?" Reiko inquired. "Uh-huh!" Colette replied.

"Dark Sphere!" Pronyma got another spell off. This time, darkness surrounded Colette, hurting her, quite a lot.

"Ow!" Colette cried.

"You bastard!" Lloyd shouted, angry that Pronyma had hurt Colette. He rushed her. "Sword Rain! Tiger Blade! Sword Rain: Alpha!"

"Why you impudent little-"

"Take this! Lightning Fang! Lightning Blade! RAIDEN!" Reiko continued the attack.

"Ugh…" Pronyma groaned. She started to cast another spell.

"Not again. You aren't getting another one of those spells off. I'm not going to let you!" Reiko stated, but Lloyd was the first to get the offense going again. He repeated the same attack combo as last time, but Reiko did something different. "Lightning Fang! Lightning Strike!" he used his own Demon Fang variant, and then swung his sword downwards. This caused lightning to hit Pronyma four times. Then he lifted his sword up, and it began to glow, then, Reiko let go of it. It continued to float. He also began to lift up, and then he shouted, "Guardian Shield!" Suddenly, a glowing magic circle appeared, and a large number of tiny beams of light shot up. Pronyma was hit multiple times.

Pronyma was beaten. She could no longer keep up the fight. She collapsed. "I'm sorry… Lord Yggdrasill!" she cried out, as she fell.

"This is the perfect opportunity! Yuan, I'm going to settle our score right now!" Lloyd shouted, as he rushed to attack Yuan. But Kratos appeared, and blocked the attack, stopping Lloyd. "Kratos!" Lloyd yelled.

"…Kratos what are you doing here?" Yuan inquired. "Leave Yuan. Lord Yggdrasill has summoned you." Kratos replied.

"Grr… Are you taking the Chosen?" Yuan scowled.

"No. We'll leave her for now. It's the toxicosis." Kratos responded.

"…I see. Lloyd our battle will have to wait." Yuan then turned around, and leapt into the heavens, for he, like Kratos, Yggdrasill, and Colette, was an angel.

"He's an angel too!" Sheena asked, shocked to see that Yuan also had the same glowing wings that the evil Lord of Cruxis had.

"Dammit, Yuan wait!" Lloyd shouted, ready for a fight.

"What are you doing?" Kratos asked Lloyd.

"What?" Lloyd retorted.

"Why have you come all the way to Tethe'alla?"

"I'm here to save Colette."

"What good will saving the chosen do? The relation of the two worlds vying for each other's mana will not change. Their positions have merely been reversed by the regeneration ritual."

"Has Tethe'alla begun to decline?" Sheena interrupted.

"The Tower of Salvation can still be seen from this side. As long as that can been seen, this world is still flourishing. But in the event that the Chosen becomes Martel's vessel, Tethe'alla will surely bid farewell to its era of prosperity." Kratos replied.

"Dammit! Isn't there anything that can be done! That Yggdrasill guy built this twisted world, right?" Lloyd asked.

"Lord Yggdrasill does not consider it twisted. If you want to do something about it, use your own head." Kratos answered. "I thought that you weren't going to make any more mistakes."

"Right! I'm going to change this stupid system in order to prevent anymore chosen, like Colette!"

"Go ahead and try." Kratos and Pronyma then took off, in the direction of the Tower of Salvation.

"What was that all about? First we get trapped, then some Desian lady appears, tries to take Colette, then some blue-winged angel guy appears, orders the guy who trapped us to leave, and something about preventing anymore chosen? What?" Reiko questioned.

"I'm not going to let the evil Cruxis kill or harm anymore innocent people, like Colette." Lloyd replied. He then turned to face Colette. He stared into her shining blue eyes.

"What's wrong Lloyd?" She asked, wondering why Lloyd was staring at her.

"Colette, welcome back." He happily said.

"Hehe… Glad to be back!" She giggled.


	3. Under the Light of the Stars Chapter 5

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**Under the light of the stars

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**

"There is no way we are going to make it to Meltokio before sundown…" Reiko said, as he, Lloyd, Colette, Genis, Raine, Presea, and Zelos all walked to the northwest, in the direction of Meltokio, the Capital of the Tethe'alla kingdom. The sun was already beginning to set in the western sky, illuminating it a golden-orange, like a fire. Golden-illuminated plains seemed to stretch on forever, and in the distance, the Walled City of Meltokio rose up on the horizon.

"I'm getting tired." Colette yawned. "I'm hungry too…"

"Well that's good." Lloyd said. "Hey, Genis, you're the best cook here. Make us some food please."

"Ok!" Genis replied "Just start a fire."

Lloyd had grabbed some logs that he had in the bag of supplies, most of which he had brought from Sylvarant. He ran out for a while, and Colette, who got nervous when Lloyd wasn't around her, followed him. They collected rocks to form a fire pit. When they returned, the skies that were orange had turned a dark purple. Reiko was talking to Raine about various things. Zelos was hitting-on Sheena, and was getting nowhere.

"You took way too long!" Genis complained.

"Hey! We needed to make a fire pit. I had to find those rocks!" Lloyd responded "But if it weren't for Colette, it would've taken three times as long… Thanks Colette…" He said, looking at Colette's face.

She smiled. She really liked it when Lloyd would do or say things that made her feel like she was significant. And Lloyd often did that.

Lloyd had finished making the fire pit, and starting the fire. As Genis had started to cook Miso Stew, Lloyd had left the small area around the fire. He sat down next to Colette. She smiled again as Lloyd put his hand around her. She really loved it when he showed her little bits of affection. She rested her head on his chest, and then she sighed, "I'm glad to be with you again."

He put his other arm around her. "Glad you are back again too… I couldn't bear it when your heart was sealed away by that accursed Final Seal thing… It's just… I l-l-lo…

"Love?"

"Love… yeah… It's just I love you…"

"You love me! I knew it!"

"You did?"

"Yeah… you were always nice to me… many people are really mean to me, but you are always kind to me… you're always there for me. Even when I was changing, you reassured me… but I should've listened to you. I shouldn't have sacrificed myself. But I'm myself again!"

"Well now you know that I love you… but do you love me?"

"Umm…well of course…" Colette blushed as she said this.

Lloyd then kissed Colette. They stayed in that moment for a long time.

Suddenly, Genis shouted, "Hey! I knew it! You two are in love!"

Lloyd angrily stared at Genis.

"Ok… Ok! I won't bother you about it!… But the food is ready" Genis stated.

Lloyd and Colette both got up from the secluded place where they had been sitting, and went to sit by the campfire. They ate the Miso Stew that Genis had made for the group. Colette was very happy, for she could actually taste it, for she couldn't taste anything since the time that she had broken the Fire Seal, almost a month ago, but due to the Key Crest, she could once again. After they ate the Miso Stew, Colette, who was still hungry, ate some Kirima fruit.

"Well, it's a good thing to see that you are eating like normal again." Lloyd said, as he sat down next to Colette. She turned around, and with her face full of fruit, tried to smile. And she had a lot to smile about. She had gotten her soul back, she wasn't going to die for the meaningless cause of switching over the mana flow, and Lloyd was really in love with her. But, she had forgotten the reason why she was going to go through with the World Regeneration Ritual in the first place. She had totally forgotten that the people of Sylvarant were suffering, dying, due to food shortages and other bad things caused by the loss of mana, and the fact that they were being killed, at the hands of the Desians, in order to make Exspheres.

The sun had fully set across the land of Tethe'alla, and now the Tower of Salvation appeared as a phantom, a dark black line streaking up into the sky. As she looked at it, Colette shuddered. Memories of just a few days earlier filled her mind, memories of that terrible event that ripped her soul asunder, and sealed it away within the Cruxis Crystal. Memories of that feeling she had when, she had been totally separated from reality, sealed away, supposedly never to come back. Then she looked over at Lloyd, who had fought against the angels of Cruxis to save her life, to stop her from being killed as a tool for the Goddess Martel's resurrection. She sighed, and then put her head on his shoulder. He looked over, and then put his hand around her. They both looked into the sky.

"You know, looking at the stars makes me feel safe…" Colette said, in gentle tone.

"It does?" Lloyd asked her.

"Yep… It sort of reminds me of you…" she replied.

"How?"

"Hehe… maybe it's got something to do with the stars being the only thing that you study seriously…"

"Oh…"

"And before I left on my journey, you used to stay over late, and point them out to me…"

Lloyd just stared at Colette.

"Whenever I look at the stars, it makes me think of you."

"Oh…"

They stayed there for a while, just staring at the stars, and then Colette suddenly leaned over and gracefully kissed Lloyd… …


	4. Dark Flare Knight? Chapter 6

Dark Flare Knight…?

Lloyd and his friends had arrived in Ozette after a long journey that had taken them all the way from Meltokio to Sybak, through the dreaded Gaoraccia Forest, to Mizuho, back through the forest and finally they had arrived at their destination, Ozette.

After an encounter with a mysterious half-elf at Presea's house, they went to Altessa's to try to get Presea's Key Crest fixed so that she could once again, begin to truly live. But it became clear that Altessa was unwilling to help, and they had to fix the Key Crest themselves. The night was coming, and it would be advantageous to leave for the Toize Valley mine in the morning rather than at night. So they checked in at the Inn at Ozette.

It was then when they heard something rather odd. "So this Dark Flare Knight… he can't be good news… especially if he can defeat an entire troop of Papal Knights. Even scarier was that they were led by Kyle Pittman. " A man who was sitting in the corner of the inn said.

"Yeah. No doubt he's up to no good. I hear he's just like that Thunder dude. You know, the one with the dragon. The one who thinks he can circumvent the caste system. But the Dark Flare Knight is also a mercenary . It's said he'll do almost anything if you pay him enough gald." Another man who was sitting across from the first one said.

The two men continued talking about the Dark Flare Knight for awhile , telling more and more outlandish tales of devilish deeds and innocents being slain. But as it went on, it became clear that this Dark Flare Knight was almost exactly like Reiko.

Reiko, who was listening to the conversation then asked one of the two men about where he could learn more about the Dark Flare Knight.

"There's information on him on the wanted poster outside. There's also a person who likes to stand there… he's rumored to know quite a bit about him."

"Thanks." Reiko then left and he went to the wanted poster outside the inn. Sure enough, Reiko saw that there was a wanted notice for a Dark Flare Knight. "Wanted: Dead or Alive. DARK FLARE KNIGHT. Feanor Indignir. Reward if captured: 170,000 gald" There was a picture of the knight after the words, but the name of the Dark Flare Knight surprised Reiko. "Impossible. All of the other Indignirs are dead. I'm the only one left after Aerifdall." He muttered.

"Do you really think that you are the only one left kid?" A mysterious voice called out to Reiko.

"Who said that!"

"You aren't the only Indignir who survived the massacre… Your grandfather, and… your brother are still alive. It's just up until now; you were the only one in Tethe'alla. Until Feanor fell into that Otherworldly Gate…" A man in thick leather armor said, as he stepped out of the shadows.

"What do you mean?"

"I am your brother's assistant, the one who got him out of the Iselia Region, the one who helped him get away from Forcystus."

"Huh… what?" "I will take you to your brother if you wish."

"Take me please."

"As you wish."

"But my friends are going too. I won't relinquish that."

"Fine."

Reiko then walked into the inn and awoke everyone. After explaining the situation, the left and went to meet with the man in leather armor. After a quick chat, they headed into the forest, eventually coming to a cave with a door; it was surrounded by trees and other shrubbery, and thus it was well hidden. The cave must've been almost impossible to find, therefore only people who it's inhabitants deemed trustworthy may be able to find it.

"Shadow… you have an important guest." The leather-clad man said. A slot on the door opened, and the Shadow looked out through it.

"There's more than… IS THAT—So… you've betrayed me have you? You let Lloyd Irving find me ." The Shadow shouted. "Lloyd will kill me after what happened to Iselia."

"I don't think your brother will let that happen."

"What, my brother?"

"Brother is it really you? Are you really alive?"

"Reiko…" The door then opened; revealing a man, who looked almost exactly like Reiko, save for a couple distinct differences. Rieko had gray eyes, whilst the Dark Flare Knight had red. Other then that odd difference, the only other was the armor. Reiko's was blue and trimmed with silver, while the Dark Flare Knight's was black and trimmed with red. They also wielded similar swords. Both had Zweihanders, but Feanor's Flamberge was a long jagged sword with a huge golden cross, that had an Exsphere in it, in the center of the hilt.

"Brother! It is true! You are still alive." Reiko shouted.

Suddenly Colette heard something. "Someone's coming!" she cried.

"Oh no…" Lloyd said. Suddenly a Papal Knight grabbed Colette, and then held a dagger to her throat, and he retreated into the forest, and before anyone could stop his retreat, more Papal Knights got in between Lloyd's group and the first Papal Knight.

"AHHH! HELP ME!" Colette shrieked as she was dragged off. "Colette!" Lloyd shouted. "

Hehe. Looks like your insurrection is over, travelers from Sylvarant. We've captured Colette."

"Don't assume anything." Feanor said. He had gotten behind one of the knights. "WITCH HUNT!" A blast of darkness encircled the knight as Feanor stabbed him. The blade went clean through the knight, and the knight's blood spilled all over the ground. The knight fell forward, and then Feanor lifted his blade out of the knight's body. Suddenly an eerie specter appeared above the knight's body, and then it screamed and vanished into darkness. "Hehe… Drained his soul."

"Incredible, Feanor." Lloyd said.

"Call me Shadow. Until this sickening system that Lord Yggdrasill has in place is no more, I am not Feanor Indignir. I am the Shadow."

"Right. But we have to save Colette!"

"Heh… gotcha!" Shadow said, as he approached the next knight. That knight was terrified out of his mind by what just happened to his ally. He shrieked in cold terror as Shadow approached him. But instead of attempting to drain the knight's soul, Shadow hit with another attack. "Earth Divide!" Shadow's Flamberge began to glow, and then he swung it with incredible force, bashing the knight into the ground.

"Now to finish this… Cycle Beam!" Shadow's sword began to glow again, but this time a ball of fire mana appeared in front of him, and it suddenly unleashed a huge beam of fire. At that same time Reiko unleashed his Raiden attack. The two hit the knight at the same time. The knight was reduced to ashes instantly.

They didn't have much time left so they raced off into the forest in hopes of catching the knight who has Colette.


	5. Vengeance Begins Now Chapter 7

Vengeance Begins Now

As the Lloyd and his group chased the knights, the knight who captured Colette sent for back up. He had found himself in the devastated village of Aerifdall. Colette was resisting far too much for him to take her any farther by himself. Another knight, the dragon riding Velociknight, arrived to assist him. But when Colette was released for just a second, she flew into the air, and used an angel spell to kill the dragon the knight was riding, but she couldn't keep up her strength, and she fell to the ground. The first knight ran up to her, and then hit her with his halberd. She screamed out in pain, and Lloyd heard her cry. He ran forward to see the knights. "You bastard! How dare you harm her!" he yelled. He thrusted his sword into the knight's helmet. The first knight fell dead.

"This… is… Aerifdall. My home…" Reiko said. "You are not going to defile this hollowed ground! Prepare to die! Magnum!" Reiko held Glam with its point facing the now dragon-less Velociknight. He slid his free hand in a fast motion over the blade and a ball of lightning shot out, slamming the knight into a burnt out wall, splitting the knight's body open.

Lloyd ran over to Colette after the two knights were killed. He tried to comfort her, but she wouldn't stop crying. "There are a lot of them. We're going to die… I really don't want to die…"

"Don't worry… we can take them. I promise I won't let you die." He said to her.

Shadow stood next to a tree, and heard two Commander Knights talking.

"I'm getting credit for capturing the criminals."

"No, I am!"

"I am!"

"Fine, both of us."

"No. I'm the only one getting credit for this"

After listening to the Commanders for a while Shadow started to get really tired. "Ok. This is getting boring," he said. Then he grabbed one of the commanders by the neck, slammed him into the other knight, and threw him into a nearby tree. The knight crumpled to the ground. "Oops… I think I killed it!"

"Dammit! That hurt… was I drinking too much Flanoir potion?" The knight who was hit by the other knight said. He opened his eyes to see shadow standing over him. "Hey dude… what's up!"

"Too bad. Game over for you." Shadow said with an emotionless look on his face. He grasped the other knight's halberd, and stabbed it into the knight's chest. Shadow then tried to rip it out, but the body lifted with the weapon. "Dammit. It's stuck. What the hell do I do with this thing?"

"I don't know. How about just throwing it away?" Reiko yelled.

"Whatever." Shadow said as he lifted the halberd and pitched it over his shoulder. It landed on a Velociknight.

"AHH! I CAN'T SEE!" The knight yelled. He then turned and charged randomly. But he headed for a knight in golden armor, trimmed in black. The knight with the armor had a massive shield on his left arm, and under it he had a crossbow. On his right arm he had a smaller shield, and he held a large battle-axe. It was Kyle Pittman III.

"You charge at me? You're useless." Kyle said, and then he fired his crossbow. Instead of hitting the dead knight and knocking it off of the Velociknight, he hit the Velociknight, and killed him.

"It's Kyle Pittman." Reiko gravely said.

"Kyle Pittman. You and your troops are dead. You first kill most of my family, then you come to cause havoc to innocents. It's time you paid for your crimes. Burn in hell!" Shadow yelled as he knocked the Velociknight that Kyle had slain off his dragon and then mounted it for his own purposes.

Reiko blew a whistle, and then Westerly dove down from the skies, and attacked the area with a massive blast of pepper breath. Reiko then mounted his dragon. "Let's go beat some sense into those papal knights. You hear that, brother?"

"Way ahead of you."

The battle that Reiko and Shadow had been waiting for, the Final Battle against Kyle Pittman III had begun.


	6. Battle With Pittman's Army Chapter 8

The Battle With Pittman' s Army

"I… just can't leave Colette like this…" Lloyd said.

He was too sad and worried to fight. With Colette hanging by a thread to her life, he was far too concerned for her life to effectively fight against the Papal Knights. Raine also could not leave Colette's side either. Without near constant support from Raine's healing arts, she would surely die.

"Don't worry Lloyd. We've got this. These knights are nothing!" Reiko shouted, as he slammed his sword into a Cardinal Knight, and sent him skyward, but instead of just knocking him vertically, Westerly decided to kick the knight, sending him into a tree. Shadow followed that up by knocking another Knight into the same tree, and then he fired off a Dragon's Fang, and set the tree ablaze, and thus it fell, collapsing a nearby ruin and that crushed the knight that Reiko had sent flying, and the blazing tree itself smashed the knight who Shadow had bashed into the tree in the first place.

Pittman had made a point to annoy Genis by persistently interrupting his spells by using his "Holy Nails" technique. It seemed as if Kyle was simply asking for trouble when, upon the next shot from his Crossbow, Genis unleashed his anger. Suddenly a massive amount of powerful mana began to flow through him, and the air began to fill with static electricity, and the mana of the area seemed as if it was building for something. "I'll show you your powerlessness!" Genis yelled. Suddenly the area around a group of Cardinal Knights and their Commanders began to glow as rings of blue light appeared along the ground. Lightning slammed the ground in the middle circle, and it sent out shocking shockwaves of power into the knights who were caught in the circles; they could not get away, because of the paralyzing effect of the Lightning Mana within the spell. "Indignation Judgment!" Genis shouted. A glowing blade that was comprised of pure, concentrated mana fell from the sky, striking the center circle, and that emitted a blast that tore the knights apart. Then the blade exploded, and the knights suddenly were nothing but bloody armor.

"Damn. That's one hell of a spell." Reiko said as he saw the sheer power of Genis's lightning spell. "Indignation Judgment… I wonder if I'll eventually be able to use it."

The battle carried on for quite some time. After a time, most of the knights had fallen. Aerifdall had once again become soaked with blood. The walls were smeared with the remains of the fallen knights, and their blood. The ground was so soaked that keeping a sure footing was almost impossible. But the battle was far from over. Kyle Pittman lifted his left arm, and fired two arrows. One shined brightly, and the other exploded. Suddenly a Dragon's roar was heard in the distance. Then seven or eight Velociknights charged forward. Behind them, massive, armored Dragons who had large shields and impossibly massive halberds marched in unison towards the battlefield.

"Crap. Dragon Knights." Reiko said.

"What are you worried about? We can take these guys. We took all of those others. It was no problem." Shadow said.

"Don't be so overconfident. Dragon Knights are the most powerful knights in the Pope's Army."

"Oh well. It's not like we can run away. We have to kill Pittman."

"Right."

They charged forward and attacked the Dragons. The Dragons took to the sky and unleashed a blast of flame breath. The ruins were set ablaze. The orange glow illuminated the ruins. It revealed the devastation that the village of Aerifdall had received back when the town was destroyed by Kyle's troops, and the damage the ruins had taken during this battle, although the newer damage was clearer, the old damage showed the destructive force that Kyle had unleashed on the innocent people of Aerifdall.

Reiko charged the dragons. He then used his "Guardian Shield" tech. But the Dragons attacked, and Reiko was knocked to the ground shortly after. "YOU ASKED FOR IT!" he cried "Let's go!" He charged forward, and slashed, he was followed by Shadow, Zelos, and Sheena.

"Thunder Explosion!" Reiko said, leaping into the air towards the dragon.

"Burst Fall!" Shadow said as he also leapt into the air.

"Lightning Blade!" Zelos shouted, thrusting his sword into the dragon.

"Pyre Seal!" Sheena yelled as she used her magically charged cards to blast the dragon.

"You ready, Shadow?" Reiko called out.

"Gotcha!" he yelled back. They both raised their swords, in unison, and lightning, light, fire and darkness mana swirled around them. "Destructive Attack!" Shadow said.

"CRUEL RAIN!" Reiko said, and all of a sudden, there was a fierce wind. The night sky grew darker, and then turned red. The mana surrounding the two brothers joined, and became a blue ray that shot into the sky. A magic circle appeared, and then the wind grew stronger, the clouds turned blood red, and lightning flashed from seemingly everywhere. Then the magic circle shot into the sky, forming a vortex of red and black clouds. Without warning, brilliant beams of dark light shot out of the vortex. These beams fell like rain, similar to Colette's Judgment spell, but when each hit, it exploded with the power of fire and lightning. There was nowhere for the knights to run. It was over for them in an instant; brilliant flash, explosion, death. The Dragons also suffered this fate, the one targeted by the unison attack, more so.

Kyle Pittman's troops lay dead. The terrain was battered and destroyed, filled with the many craters that the Cruel Rain had left. Kyle himself lay trapped between a huge ridge of debris, and the advancing Indignir brothers. The path to the true final battle with Kyle laid bare, and now the two Indignirs would have their revenge, but also for the countless lives taken by him and his troops, not only at Aerifdall, but all over Tethe'alla. He was going to pay, for the hundreds upon hundreds of half-elves killed at his command.


	7. Doomed in the Netherworld Chapter 9

Doomed In the Netherworld

THE KYLE PITTMAN III BATTLE

"This is the end for you Kyle! You will finally pay for all the lives that were lost at your hands!" Reiko shouted.

"Finally… the Indignir brothers. You two, the grandsons of that monster, Forcystus Indignir! You two are going to die." Kyle replied.

"Forcystus… who's that?" Reiko said.

"One of the Five Desian Grand Cardinals. The master of the Iselia Ranch…" Shadow answered.

"That monster and those troops he had with him… they killed every member of my force on that day 24 years ago. Those men with whips dragged the ones that weren't killed into that black vortex. They also took you, Feanor. What ever happened to those loyal soldiers… I wonder?"

"They were turned into Exspheres. Those men were the only ones who deserved it. They killed many innocent people that night, their punishment was already fated, and so is yours."

"Your grandfather was a Desian Grand Cardinal. What does that make you? A Desian! Wouldn't it be perfect publicity? The Brave Knight who defeated the evil Desian half-elves."

"Defeat the Desians! One, I AM NOT A DESIAN! THEY MAY HAVE TRAINED ME, BUT I AM NOT AND I WILL NEVER BE A DESIAN! And two, you mission is to capture Colette, and take her to the pope to have her publicly executed, is it not? Do you realize what retribution Yggdrasill will bestow upon this land if she was killed? I quite sure you know what happened the last time you foolish Tethe'alleans angered him… he sent an angel and had your king killed."

"Spiritua?"

"Is that what you call that empty shell? An angel is just an empty shell. It isn't human… that just shows the cruelty of the Cruxis. Do you really think you'd survive against them?"

"Yes, I do."

"Yeah right… and anyways you're not going to even see them, because you die here! Brother let's take him down, NOW!" Reiko quickly followed Shadow's rush at Pittman, but both of their attacks were dodged, and ultimately countered by Pittman's fierce crossbow attacks. Shaking off the blows from Pittman's crossbow, they charged him again, but they had learned from the last time, and were ready for Pittman's dodge. Once again, Kyle quickly moved to the right, and then to the left, but Shadow's sword struck him. Then Reiko sprung on Kyle's opening, plunging his weapon into Kyle's side. With a cry of the words Lightning Strike, 3 swift and fierce bolts of lightning crashed down onto Kyle. He stumbled from the blow, but then prepared his counterattack, the most terrifying technique in the Papal Knight's arsenal… Seig's axe move, Hein Messoushujin.

"Now I shall show the true power of the papal knights. Seig taught me this. Prepare yourselves! Your time comes to an end! HEIN MESSOUSHUJIN!" As Kyle began to execute his mighty attack, Reiko and Shadow both jumped back, narrowly avoiding their death. When the dust from Kyle's attack had cleared, only a ruined building had been destroyed by the sheer force of his attack, and he had completely missed his true targets altogether.

"Looks like you missed."

"Dammit!.. ugh… how could I miss…"

"What a pity… you were the best at defeating minor opponents… but you falter before a true enemy." A strange voice said.

"Wh-who are you?"

"I am the Elite Knight. The shadow of the winds."

"Who the—"

"Do not worry… I am not here to bother with such foolish missions as capturing the former chosen of Sylvarant… I am only here to see Kyle Pittman's fighting… Please do continue… I find this confrontation between the hero of the Papal Knights Kyle Pittman III and the legendary half-elf criminals, the Indignir brothers to be quite entertaining."

Suddenly, Kyle, seizing the opening created by the Elite Knight's appearance, fired his crossbow, straight at Reiko.

But as the bolt reached the half-way point on its way to its target, it was struck out of the sky by a blast of wind."I will not allow such a cheap attack on this battleground. Now return to the fight."

Shadow charged at Pittman, with his Flamberge glowing with it's fiery fury. "SOUL CHARGE!" Shadow cried, unleashing his sword's power in the form of a wave of fire, that crashed down on Kyle with incredible force.

"Thunder Arrow!" Reiko shouted, as he let loose his lightning spell.

Waves of Fire, Darkness, and Lightning all fell onto Kyle's body. He tried to continue the fight, but was too dazed to even move right. Shadow then moved behind Kyle, and with one powerful strike, he ran Kyle through.

With a dying breath Kyle uttered his last words. "So… ugh… this is it… this is… what… the goddess had fated for me… to be killed by… an Indignir… just like the rest of my troop who… wiped out… this cursed city… 24 years ago… Ugh… Dammit.".

As Kyle finished his words, Reiko ran up and effectively ended Kyle's pain by slicing his sword through Kyle's throat, decapitating him.

"It's finally over, brother… we won. Kyle's dead. Our family and the other victims of Aerifdall have finally been avenged." Reiko said with a triumphant smile on his face.

"No. It's not done. It's not over. Yggdrasill still rules supreme over the world. As long as he's in power, there will always be more victims… always more suffering… always more sacrifice." Shadow said, solemnly.

A golden light shot out as the rising morning sun came up, and it illuminated the scene. The smell of smoke from the fires that had illuminated the battleground the night before was still there, although the flames had died out, leaving only a faint trace of fire in some areas. The blood that had been spilt, and the flesh that had been ripped and mangled in the horrific battle had been burnt away, leaving hunks of melted, and twisted armor, and scorched bones. In all reality there was nothing left of Kyle's troops, and the mysterious "Elite Knight" had vanished. Colette, who had received horrible wounds at the hands of her captors was on her feet, able to walk, but it was decided that she still need to rest, and she was carried by Lloyd, who was more than happy to carry her. Both Reiko and Shadow had also decided to continue to help the group.

The group then returned to Shadow's hideout, where the waited for about a week, while Colette was recovering from her injuries. After the week was up, they headed out for the dock north of Ozette, so the could embark on their journey to the Toize Valley mine…


End file.
